Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Kids have a great chance to learn code
Project aims to inspire youth for change
Science Centre is endeavouring to make as many relevant activities accessible to everyone,” she said.
Among the activities on offer are coding, data storytelling and robotic workshops. There will also be talks by some of the most talented and inspiring young coders in Cape Town and a chance to interact with many hands-on exhibits in the centre.
Cleverdon said that even if youngsters had never written a line of code, the workshops would help them get started, one step at a time.
“They are styled to help encourage today’s young digital consumers to become tomorrow’s digital creators,” she explained.
It’s all based on Scratch, a popular system adopted by millions worldwide as it prompts youthful curiosity, promotes creativity, and provides a basis for lifelong programming learning. CREATING “1 000 Activists” for change for the better is the aim of the non-profit Heal the Hood Project, working in tandem with rappers Youngsta and Emile YX in local schools this month.
Using a mixture of songs and talks to address young Capetonians about the importance of taking action in pursuit of their life’s dreams and aspirations, it’s part of a campaign to encourage active citizenry.
Emile YX recently won the title of LeadSA Hero of the Year and wants to pass on the energy. “We need to learn that we can help ourselves to achieve whatever we want, by taking action. I come from an era when the South African media had no idea what hip hop was, and together with Prophets of da City and Black Noise we took action to introduce the culture,” he said.
He also gave a shout-out to Youngsta, who said had impressed and inspired him for his dedication to Cape Town, and his “desire to share”.
In addition to the Science Centre’s efforts, other organisations have joined in the fun, and are set to create a “coding buzz” via a host of coding activities across the city.
Anyone who’s interested should visit the Africa Code Week “live” map http:// africacodeweek.org/activities/
During their visits to schools, which continue until the end of next week, they will collect contact details of youngsters interested in becoming activists for positive change. Their aim is to gather 1 000 such contacts and then mobilise these young activists to achieve their goals, while collectively assisting one another to attain their objectives too.
Of the Heal The Hood Project, Emile YX said they live-events/ which lists the events taking place locally.
Africa Code Week, first implemented in 2015, was spearheaded by software company SAP, in association with the Science Centre and Galway Education Centre in Ireland.
The first year inspired more than 89 000 children across 17 African countries to write their first lines of code. Of those, recognised the positive impact of hip hop on their own lives, then “started sharing the basics with others”. This work had inspired a host of projects, he said, of the various elements of hip hop culture and the “youth that I work with inspired the creation of most of the projects I have done”.
Among the most recent were a Cape Flats film festival and a Cape Flats cellphone photographic competition.
The aim of the 1 000 almost 4 000 were from the Western Cape.
This year, said Cleverdon, the aim was to involve 150 000 youngsters in 30 African countries.
For details about the Festival of Code today and next Saturday, visit http://ctsc.org. za/festival-of-code-africa-codeweek-free-entry/, or call the Science Centre at 021 300 3200.
There will also be free Activists project was to create new opportunities and access new spaces for youth to be exposed to new things, effectively challenging their perceptions. Each of the projects aimed to expand young people’s view of what was possible and how they could be more than the limits created by history and society.
“We also use examples of our own learning experience of how we once saw ourselves versus how we are willing to constantly grow and change our views,” he said. Their first gathering will be at the African Hip Hop Indaba at Muizenberg High School today from noon to 11pm.
On Monday, they’ll be at Aloe High School at 10am, on Tuesday at Grassdale High School at 10.30am, on Wednesday at Cafda School of Skills, on Thursday at Oaklands High at 11am and on Friday at the Mitchells Plain Skills School from 9am. They’ll also be at the Woodstock Live Hip Hop and Reggae Festival on October 30, at Trafalgar Park in Woodstock.
thembeka.dlamuka@inl.co.za